FILMMAKER REACTS to THE WIRE Season 2 Episode 2: Collateral Damage

[@JamesVSCinema]

SEASON 2...is starting off on an unexpected pace, and I love it! The Wire & The Office & Better Call Saul & Always Sunny & More on Patreon! Click here: www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema Have a great day y'all!

[@lokior8080]

Has anyone told you how likable your personality is?

[@sydneyyendys1994]

As a Pole, I won't lie, it's very Polish that they argued about church stained glass windows.

[@codename617]

They way you guys pronounce prostate as "prostrate" is irritating. Or is that just a trait of Andy Sipowicz?

[@DannyBedo]

I’m more concerned about the screen doors on the submarines 😂😂😂Jkjk Jesus that’s an old joke

[@lethalbee]

There is a lot of good TV out there, but The Wire is a level above everything else. It's so artistic, realistic and humane at the same time. Btw don't know if you commented on this in the uncut, but both Frank Sobotka and Stan Valchek are polish-american, and the Church they're competing favors over is the polish-catholic church of Baltimore. The Wire is so rich with texture, including such a small cultural minority and their internal conflicts in their painting of Baltimore.

[@rfmerrill]

Prez too, don't forget him!

[@user-jk5um1om8l]

I put Deadwood on the same level. And that’s it! Everything else (otherwise superb television like Chernobyl, True Detective season 1, Breaking Bad, Severance, etc.) is a cut below.

[@transformersrevenge9]

You can see why originally season 2 confused a lot of people. It is taking it's time to get started, all the familiar characters are all over the place, new ones have come in and so on. And yet I found myself laughing at everything Jimmy does, like it's a damn comedy. Honestly if one wants to tell a good and gripping story, throw some humor into it. Everyday humor makes everything feel so much more real and relatable. And even if this season has been a slower burn so far, I swear everything with Jimmy, Bunk and Lester has been pure gold. Also, this season is important to the context of the show. To me it seems that so far they are showing that crime is not a race thing, but a class thing. At a certain level of poverty, everyone does something to stay alive. If they had just 5 seasons of one group of people doing crimes, it would send an unintentionally bad message. But they are showing here that crime isn't just as simple as that.

[@steved1135]

Well said. And it happens with every new season. Amazing writing; that takes some serious forethought. i recall starting the second season and I wasn't even sure I was watching the right show... lol

[@JoeFF85]

Kima said it best when she called him "Cool Lester Smooth"

[@nicholasbrattoli7233]

It's his true name and title.

[@Anthropophagic64]

Season two does a great job of showing that some of the issues plaguing the city of Baltimore (and by extension, the whole of society) aren't just a black or white, but truly a class issue. It continues to show the extent of corruption. Even when the intentions of that corruption might be benevolent, used to help uplift those hurting around you, it will never the less undermine and weaken the institution as a whole.

[@oliverhughes610]

He said - they had airpipes on the top of the crate that got crushed. So they were alive, but their air supply got cut off, and they suffocated in there, hence the look of their bodies. Ziggy's actor, James Ransone (a Baltimore native, like many in the show), has had a pretty interesting career. I watched him jerk it to completion in Ken Park, pop up here, and is now a pretty well regarded actor following movies like Sinister, It Chapter Two and The Black Phone.

[@JoeFF85]

He was a pretty great radioman in Generation Kill, too

[@doubleT84]

@@JoeFF85 Cpl. Ray Person was awesome!

[@JP47471]

he's a decent actor, but he sucked here imo

[@oliverhughes610]

@JP47471 sucked is a strong word, he wasn't amazing but I felt he portrayed the character well

[@JP47471]

@@oliverhughes610 he was mid at portraying the character imo, and the character definitely was bad

[@andersfrostbertelsen1159]

Ziggy is Frank's son, not grandson. Interestingly, there is only a 13 year age difference between the actors. Chris Bauer (the actor playing Frank) was just 37 when this season aired. He looks at least 10 years older.

[@DannyBedo]

It’s insane how old Frank looks, now being his age it actively makes me feel old

[@Yora21]

@@DannyBedo Same age as James Gandolfini when he started playing Tony Soprano. Same age as when Sean Connery stopped playing James Bond. (Though he came back once more at 41.) Some men age not as well as others.

[@ShivasIrons22]

Loving going through the wire. One of my favorite parts of the week.

[@justmarcus33]

You're 14 jamos at 2 am was wild

[@natekeen8301]

Don't try the beer in the egg. You don't want to do that. I'm a recovering alcoholic, I've done that, and I can tell you that you don't want to do it.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Advice taken hahaha

[@TheGunship]

As a fellow recovering alcoholic (fist bump), I *do* recommend it! It's just one of those ridiculous, hyper-masculine things you gotta do at least once...

[@dmgallibond469]

Valchek (the police colonel) and Sobotka (the union boss on the docks) have known each other all their lives, and have always been rivals. Now that Valchek has power as a high-ranking police officer, he is using that to try to dig up dirt on Sobotka all for his own petty grievances. I have never worked in government, but I have worked in large corporations where upper managers (directors and VPs) made lives of staff miserable because of their petty squabbles and power plays against each other when the executives in the C-suites were too stupid, too blind, or too distracted with their own petty concerns to give a crap about what was good for the employees and the customers.

[@Jujuthecat]

LMAO I always thought that was you singing in the outro.. years later and i finally see the real artist

[@xombiekat13]

Oh shit, I didn't realize the guy who played Master Chief was the guy in the wire. That's why I love revisiting these older shows this way and seeing familiar faces.

[@Yora21]

7:02 Jimmy the old charmer making a good first impression.

[@Darwinist]

The apperance of Greek organized crime in this show is so interesting to me - they have never been high-profile in US media, but because of the outsized role of Greece in global shipping, they have been key players in international smuggling for a very long time. Most of the time they are really good at staying in the shadows.

[@gocartism]

"The Greek" ain't even Greek. He says so in the end. I think he's Russian mob.

[@kisskisslightsout5656]

@@gocartism My money is on Cypriot. Even Sergei isn't Russian - it seems to annoy him that people make that assumption, I think he's actually Ukrainian. And then I think both Spiros and Glekas are Greek/Greek-American. So, even if "The Greek" isn't technically Greek, I reckon "The Greeks" probably do stem from Greek Mafia or something.

[@rych7852]

Always heart warming to see Luther Mahonney left his gangster ways (Homicide: LOTS) and became the M.E. for Baltimore! 😂😂

[@alvarhanso6310]

Welcome to the world of The Greek. One could say he's the actual main character, and Baltimore is just a small slice of his life and empire. Also, he could just be middle management himself.

[@phatnana2379]

The genius of the writing is... Yes, it is SUPER dumb to be starting an investigation over a stained-window beef and a waste of police and resources BUT... The case that comes out of it ends up being incredibly important, complex, and dangerous.

[@Brodysseous]

5:46 thats the great part of the writing and acting of the show. We probably shouldn't laugh but shit like that still works.

[@gijoey5912]

I think that's called a "Miner's Breakfast" when you drink a raw egg in your beer with a shot of whiskey to chase it (I realized they aren't miners on the show).

[@TuskyBaby]

Seems like a good way to get sick as early as possible in the day

[@Yora21]

Raw egg with sugar was a thing in Northern Germany.

[@jessecoombs]

This is great! I would totally watch the uncut versions, but without a time-code to sync the show with the reaction, it's a little difficult for me to figure out where in the show you are. I'm hard of hearing, so a visual cue is helpful. Not a complaint by the way! I'm happy to watch these edited videos!

[@Mr.GoodVibesCaLi]

Another One Lets gooooo🔥

[@jh1618]

Ronda & Jimmy, the original Kim & Jimmy

[@williamkerner3758]

I told you James. That's what Rawls gets. 13 murders he doesn't want. McNulty's revenge!

[@theblobconsumes4859]

If you like the flavor of raw egg, which I do, raw egg in beer isn't the worst thing in the world. Just gotta make sure the egg you eat is safe with a simple test; Put it in water. If it floats, it's probably not good to eat it raw. Not a surefire test but it works. Chances of the raw egg causing problems are incredibly low either way.

[@a6ruled]

The “good to see you”s were nice ❤

[@grandgnd]

Avon was listening to (The Flute Tune by Push)😉

[@tetleyT]

Anyone up for some crab guts?

[@kevlon_]

the port guys are polish, the super bad dudes are greek

[@DannyBedo]

Okay so as a union worker and drinkin man, a beer with a raw egg in the morning is absolutely a breakfast, it’s liquid bread plus the protein you need to start. Think of it exactly like an old man’s protein shake, pro wrestlers and strong men have done it for generations. It definitely will make you bigger if you’re trying to lift 😂😂😂 my USMC fam would do it all the time before and after lifting

[@TuskyBaby]

I always thought Wee Bey sounded like CyHi the Prince

[@brunobrauer6301]

McNulty got Rawlins good.

[@ulricaandrae4381]

McNulty is a bit of an ass but he's a funny one and a great cop. Love him. I enjoy your reactions to this show very much!

[@gimiwanishkaa]

2:00 This scene has long bothered me. Why are the bodies strewn about so haphazardly? If you're the one pulling the bodies out of the container, why wouldn't you just line them up? Lining them up would make things easier for yourself and everyone else involved. It would take extra work to arrange the bodies the way they're shown. It's more striking visually, but it's hardly realistic.

[@depthsofabjection]

I think it would be more visually striking *had* they been arranged in a line even. So yeah agreed

[@TumzFestivalYT]

The Greek

[@pcl360media]

Thx for the reactions. Are you aware how much you way “if I can be honest with you” ??

[@JamesVSCinema]

if I can be honest with you, nope! lol

[@mikemoore4033]

Gangsters are gangsters, irregardless of race. Some people like this season less than the others, because the gangsters are white. I disagree, I think this is as good as the rest of “The Wire”, which, not to sound like a broken record, is as good as it gets.